
16/12/2024 إنكليزي

16/12/2024 إنكليزي

16/12/2024 إنكليزي

16/12/2024 إنكليزي

16/12/2024 إنكليزي

1. The Washington Post, August 8, 2024
Israel Strikes Gaza Schools, Saying Hamas Uses Them to Plan Attacks by Loveday Morris, Loveday Morris, Hazem Balousha, and Hajar Harb
On Aug. 8, 2024, after carrying out airstrikes on two schools in Gaza, killing at least 16 Palestinians, the Israeli military trotted out the now-familiar claim that the schools were being used as “command and control centers” by Hamas, while providing zero supporting evidence. In this report, The Washington Post addresses these claims through interviews with affected civilians. A father who lost three family members in the strike stated that they “did not know” who was inside the targeted room or if the claim that it was sheltering Hamas police officers was true.
The Washington Post itself does not question the legitimacy of statements made by the Israeli military. Instead, it brings in outside officials from the United Nations to hedge around the veracity of the claims. When outlets like The Washington Post do not offer significant pushback, the “pattern” described by UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma of Israeli attacks on schools will continue. She describes how the Israeli military “immediately” released a statement about the attack, preequipped with talking points. She also states that there is no way to investigate these “very serious claims,” but what they do know is that “we’ve had civilians hit, women and children” in each strike on a school. While The Post itself cannot stop a bomb from hitting a school, it can refrain from repeating justifications in its headlines and burying criticism in the bottom half of an article.
This article does include significant criticism of the Israeli military from UN officials and civilians on the ground in Gaza. Notably, it is in part authored by two journalists from Gaza, Hazem Balousha, who is now living in Cairo, and Hajar Harb, who is based in London. Language that antagonizes civil infrastructures such as “the Hamas-run health ministry” is markedly missing from this article, while it continues to be in use elsewhere by The Washington Post.
2. The New York Times, August 10, 2024
Israel Criticized After Strike Kills Scores in Gaza by By Raja Abdulrahim, Victoria Kim, and Aaron Boxerman
The New York Times continues the trend of Western media outlets repeating Israeli military claims after they have bombed yet another school in Gaza — over 17 at the time the article was published. Once again, bombing structures where thousands of civilians are sheltering is justified by the supposed presence of Hamas and other militant groups. No evidence is provided and little pushback is offered by The New York Times against these claims.
Similar to The Washington Post, language surrounding the reporting of the number of Palestinian deaths has shifted. The Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers are cited, but they are given more scrutiny than statements made by the Israeli military. The New York Times reports that the Gaza Civil Defense stated “more than 90 people were killed,” but they could not confirm the numbers, saying that some doctors at nearby hospitals recorded “slightly lower totals.” They reiterate that Gaza health officials “do not distinguish between civilian and combatant” in their numbers.
The New York Times also included Israeli criticism of the numbers of casualties, who said that their assessment was “at odds” with the death toll given by officials in Gaza, but did not provide their own numbers of civilian deaths. This was repeated uncritically by the New York Times, in contrast to their efforts to fact-check statements made by the Gaza Health Ministry, despite their own reporting that the Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers are reliable. This is even mentioned later in the article, but not in the paragraphs describing the death toll of this particular attack. They highlighted claims by Israeli officials that over a dozen militants were killed in the strike, alongside allegations that no women or children were present, later debunked by testimonies.
While the headline does clearly state that Israel is responsible for the strike and deaths, it also mentions international criticism which, in this article, largely applies to the United Nations. The New York Times itself does not offer much direct critique of Israeli military statements, despite providing eyewitness testimony from doctors and other civilians on the ground in Gaza.
Israeli Airstrike Kills Dozens of Displaced Civilians in Gaza by Anat Peled and Abeer Ayyoub
Reporting on the same strike at Taba’een school in Gaza City, The Wall Street Journal managed an entire article without any mention of the number of civilian deaths. In fact, the only actual number is quoted from the Israeli military, who said that “19 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed in the strike,” while civilian casualties are reported as “dozens.” The Wall Street Journal repeats the Israeli military talking point that the school was being used as a military command center by Hamas and offers no pushback to this claim. There are no questions as to how the Israeli military came to the conclusion that those 19 people were members of Hamas or other militant groups and The Journal is seemingly accepting the Israeli military’s vague claim that the numbers are based on “intelligence information.”
As the article continues with eyewitness testimony from Gaza, one young man described the aftermath of the strike and seeing dead bodies strewn around the school’s courtyard, saying “a lot of them were children and women.” Doctors at nearby hospitals describe receiving dead bodies, amputation cases, and many serious burns after a fire broke out because of the strike.
This clearly contradicts the claim from the Israeli military that they took steps to minimize the number of civilian deaths, but this contradiction is not mentioned. The Wall Street Journal also repeats statements from U.S. State Department officials that the United States is “deeply concerned” over civilian casualties. These statements are again, not questioned or critiqued in a meaningful manner. As the genocide persists, the Israeli military continues to target civilian infrastructure, such as schools serving as shelters, receiving very little pushback from Western press so long as it states that Hamas was in the building.